Andie posted this in
another threadVanilla Paste
First, split, chop and crush the beans – I use a granite mortar and pestle.
Place them in a jar and barely cover with glycerin, very good for extracting flavor from the beans.
I use a combination of - 8 Mexican, 4 Bourbon or Madagascar and 2 Tahitian - beans. The combination is because the various types have different flavor components and a blend gives a better overall taste.
Personally, I can do without the Tahitian because they are a bit too “perfumy” for my taste but some people like it.
Soak the beans in the liquid for 4-6 weeks. Stir the mixture from time to time with a non-reactive spoon – I use one of the large “cooking” chopsticks.
Or you can use the bean with which you have made vanilla extract.
After the soaking period:
Put the beans and the liquid through a food grinder with a very fine die. I use a poppy-seed grinder as most food grinders, unless you can find one of the old ones with a nut-butter disk, won't grind finely enough. (This is a hand-cranked device, not electric.)
If you have or have access to one of the Indian stone mill grinders, it will work very well to work the mass into a smooth paste. I borrowed one to test it (Butterfly 3-stone wet grinder) and it took 22 minutes to get 1/2 a liter to the consistency I wanted.
Smooth but slightly runny.
!!Do not use a blender – I've tried it and the results are not good, the fibers in the bean husks do not get chopped as fine as with the "mill." I used my Vita-Mix, which usually does an excellent job and I still had the tiny fibers in the mass.
Use a tablespoon or so of hot water to rinse as much of the residue from the mill as possible, add it to the paste, and spread it over the bottom of an enamelware or stainless steel skillet over very low heat stirring and folding it periodically with a silicone spatula until it has thickened to a paste consistency, i.e., when scraped off the bottom, it should stay in place, not collapse back into a puddle. Commercial pastes include thickeners but I prefer not to use them, even the "organic" ones.
Store tightly sealed in an opaque glass or porcelain jar with the least amount of "head space" - do not store in metal, plastic or in crockery containers.
I want to add that made this way, this is halal and can be used by Muslims.
